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Rev King must die by hanging – Appeal Court

February 2, 2013 : Ade Adesomoju

Rev. King | credits: naijamayor.com

The Court of Appeal in Lagos has affirmed the death sentence passed on the General Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly, Chukwuemeka Ezeugo (aka Rev. King), by a Lagos High Court in Ikeja on January 11, 2007.

In a unanimous judgment read by Justice Fatima Akinbami on Friday, the appellate court dismissed Ezeugo’s appeal, stating that the prosecution had “surely and effectively” proved its case against the convict at the trial court.

Ezeugo had appealed the judgment of Justice Joseph Oyewole, who had convicted and sentenced him to death by hanging for the alleged murder of a church member, Ann Uzoh, and attempted murder of five other devotees.

The convict is currently among the death row inmates at the Katsina Maximum Prisons in Katsina State.

Delivering judgment on the appeal, the Justice Amina Augie-led three-man panel dismissed the appellant’s contention that there were “contradictions and inconsistencies” in the prosecution’s evidence.

Other members of the panel are Justice Fatima Akinbami and Justice Ibrahim Saulawa.

Akinbami, who read the lead judgment, said, “This appeal fails and is hereby resolved against the appellant. This appeal is devoid of merit and it is hereby dismissed.

“The conviction and sentence passed on the appellant on January 7, 2011 by Justice Joseph Oyewole of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja Division is hereby affirmed.”

The condemned cleric, arraigned on September 26, 2006 on six counts of attempted murder and murder, was said to have poured petrol on six devotees for an offence which he classified as “acts of fornication,” and set them ablaze.

One of the victims, Uzoh, died on August 2, 2006, 11 days after the incident, as a result of the injuries she sustained from the incident.

Counsel for the appellant, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, had among his 32 grounds of appeal, argued that the judgment of the trial court occasioned a miscarriage of justice for relying on unresolved contradictions and inconsistencies in the prosecution’s evidence.

According to the lawyer, there were contradictions in the testimonies of some of the prosecution witnesses, with some saying that the cleric ordered for matches to set the victims ablaze and others saying he only ordered for matches after a lighter failed.

Akinbami said the contradictions were immaterial to the case of the prosecution.

She said, “Not all contradictions in the case of the prosecution will raise a doubt. For contradictions to be fatal to the prosecution’s case, they must be related to the material fact.

“All the witnesses are unanimous that the appellant used matches.”

On Ojo’s contention that the evidence adduced by the prosecution did not show that the action of his client was linked with the death of the deceased, Akinbami said the evidence given by eyewitnesses, and that of a pathologist ascribing the cause of death to “hypovolemic” (severe loss of blood and tissues), showed that Ezeugo’s action was the cause of death of one of the victims.

“The evidence is overwhelming and damning,” she said.

The justice, who also descended on Ezeuogo over his “dastardly and nefarious” act, ended the two-hour judgment on a philosophical note, saying his action “reflects the moral decay of the society in which we live.”

She said the condemned cleric presumed to be a man of God, “instead of protecting and guiding his followers, resorted to setting them ablaze and roasting them.”

Akinbami added, “He was offering them stone when they demanded bread. He was giving them scorpion when they demanded fish.”

But the defence counsel rejected the judgment. He promised to challenge the judgment at the Supreme Court.

just ask Godto have mercy on his soul. And stop saying they must kill him….u haven’t u commit murder before? U are alive today because you were not caught…if you want me to proof it…numerous abortion u are committing is simply murder just like the Rev. King.

Banji

@Judge, what a trash. So will you tell Law to stop killing him? We need to use him as deterrence for future occurrences, okay?

Besides, if he needs mercy, he will first admit his wrong doing and then confess. In this case, the man is still pleading NOT GUILTY. SO where will the mercy come from?

God is perfect

There is no forgiveness without admittance

John

Rev King is just a victim of this set up. Nobody is safe in this country anymore because our judiciary is something bad now

Judge NOT!!!

just ask Godto have mercy on his soul. And stop saying they must kill
him….u haven’t u commit murder before? U are alive today because you
were not caught…if you want me to proof it…numerous abortion u are
committing is simply murder just like the Rev. King

Sule

This is such a poorly written story. Rather than explain the key facts of the story, the writer engages in legalese much of which he doesn’t understand himself. A crucial part missing from this “story” is the background. There is an assumption that every reader already knows the back story. Even then, the reporter still had a responsibility to provide as complete information as possible. I thought the current reforms in Punch were aimed at producing better product!

lech

You want to know the full gist abi? google it you go get am sekina

Larry

Rev. King should use this opportunity when he is alive to ask for forgiveness from God before he died. Only God can spare his life from sin committed against humanity. His
attorney is just doing his work , and makes some money before final verdict. The wages of sin is death! I pray that God continues to expose these evil people in our society.

heavy

REV. KING IS AFRAID OF HEAVEN, AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES IT SO FUNNY… LMAO!

Olumilo

He who kill by sword ,must die by sword.

Ignashyes

Rev. King is another “anointee” of the god of Jim Jones clipped before wreaking grave injuries on poor souls. Nigeria government must upgrade the scope of the EFCC to take account of the deception in places of worship. There are numerous “kings” out there that are seeking whom to devour.

Nelson

Justice without mercy

ozaluoku

other fake men of GOD should take note…whether is murder issue or dubious moves on his/her congregation must face the weight of the law.

http://www.facebook.com/ozzozahuwa Ahmed Mudashiru

Lesson for all d fake men of God.

http://www.facebook.com/funsola.awlaniyi Funsola Awlaniyi

The madness that parades Nigerian churches today is not limited to
murderers like Rev King. A fool like him who also describes himself as
Pastor actually walked to his death when he tried to emulate biblical
Daniel by jumping into Lions’ den at the University of Ibadan zoo a few
decades ago. Nobody cared because the insane man fed his own brains to
the happy lions. But this criminal called King, actually poured
gasoline on one of his fanatical followers as punishment for some so
called fornication. what a travesty !!! No supreme court on earth
will save Rev. King. He is a murderer and murderers die by hanging,
lethal injection and/or electric chair. So why cant this useless
coward face the consequences of his action like a man ??? Now he is
running scared for safety under the law. He must face the music for
killing a fellow human being. Jesus that they all claim to worship
never killed, maim or deformed anybody. As we have muslim extremists
cutting peoples’ fingers for petty crimes, so also murderous hounds like
Rev King remain a disgrace to Christianity. He should die as ordered.

Ubadire Agua

Good comment. Objective view.

apotec

why not talk on the subject at hand,than generalizing everything.that one is bad doesnt indict others pls

socreamm

@disqus_5kezlVlTL8:disqus : After going through a lot of your comments on punch reports,i think you should take time to go through your comments before posting them.Your English seems bad so please do something about it.

aba boy

socreamm..the poor man is concerned about grammar..u must be one i am sure…what matters is passing the message across..can u speak English more than Briton? can messi speak good english? can russian president speak good grammar…so what is yr problem?

socreamm

socreamm..the poor man is concerned about grammar..u must be one i am sure.. What does this mean? Ode ni e aba boy

Alloy(Compro)

Those who drag our Lord Jesus Christ to the mud just for what they would eat will never go unpunished. Other men of Satan who call themselves men of God should take note. Your days are numbered. Jesus is Lord. GOD BLESS NIGERIA.

Iyke Monachim

I will briefly fill in the background. This Reverend King was a gifted prophet of God in the past, where he used to give revelations, and exposing the yoke of Satan against people Satan toments. Nigeria is full of evil, so Satan’s activities are widespread, especially in the East. Then King (whose real name is Ezeugo) fell into the pit when he decided to leave the praying band where the message of God through Jesus Christ is preached and people are counselled and prayed for without asking for or collecting money. He decided to open his own praying ministry, where he became the CEO. The truth is that a person who exposes Satan must be on the alert forever, or else Satan would find ways to lure and destroy that person, when he least expect. As CEO of his own ministry, Reverend King started performing some miracle using satanic ways – like lighting up red and black candles, sacrificing animals, etc, rather than focus on God via fasting, dedication and prayer. Once the spirit of Almighty had left him, obviously, it is easy to understand that the spirit of Satan took over King – and he started on the path of spiritual destruction, which finally led him to ordering the burning of human being. I do not think any court of law will save this man from the death he now truly deserves, after the crime he commited.

Google Earth

Thank you for that insight. I hope this will serve as another lesson for those who has hears and eyes to hear and see that nemesis will actually catch up with anybody that does ill in the society.

Susan

To me demonic King was an excellent servant of Satan who cleverly deceived his followers before showing his true colours. There are many more fake pastors in Nigeria using the name of the Lord to carry out their evil deeds. The bible says Thou shall not kill, how can someone portraying himself as a man of God flout this commandment if not the servant of Satan. We Nigerians should pray that God should eradicate these demons that have infiltrated our churches and mosques. May God bless Nigeria.

emeka

He shoould request for forgiveness from God. His soul is more important than physical life.

ManofGod

Who made this animal (rev.)? This man need to be execute in public so that it will serve as a lesson to the others fake pastor.

Dele Odugbemi

R.I.P Rev King the murderer.

It is only in a corrupt country without jobs like Nigeria, evil men and women who claim to be pastors, bishops, reverends, general overseers, prophets etc use religion to fool, extort and dupe innocent and unsuspecting people. Be warned, Jesus of over 2000 years ago is not the same one our Christian Leaders preach today, their own Jesus of today is not for salvation but for prosperity and fake miracles. Shine your eyes and stop worshiping pastors.

BBC

THE DEVIL HAS TAKEN OVER THE CHURCHES.

http://www.facebook.com/daniel.otache Daniel Otache

By their fruit you certainly know them, for Christ said, many like Pst. Chris will come in my Name, don’t be carried away many are around and many are still coming, it will only take the spirit of God to be able to identify such people and how do you know them, is it not by tallying their words, action, character and lifestyle with what the scripture says, ie if they are leaving the Word of God inside out. Be careful not to be a victim of false prophet.
Shallom.

http://twitter.com/vibrojeniczebra Franklin ‘Magbegor

Let the law take its course! Am ashame of a man of God who think he has the power of judgement in his own hand. This rev king didnt go through the four walls of a bible school to understand that he is meant to serve and not be served!

Dacub

In God’s name they…….

Obomni

The Nigerian government should set up a task force, headed by somebody like Wole Soyinka, to investigate the miracles of most of these “men of God” or rather gods of men. I am sure that,at least, 99% of their “miracles” are fake.

This is purely a travesty of Justice because in the first place the
Prosecution did not prove that the accused had any intent to kill the
deceased, the Man of God Rev King took the deceased with the other
four who sustained burns to the Hospital in his private Car and actually
put them under medical care and used his Money to pay their Medical
bills.If the Hospital had good Medical facilities the deceased would
not have died as the other four survived.Immediately the Girl died all
the enemies of Igbos in the Judiciary and Police found opportunity to
destroy the CPA and Rev. King hiding under fake Justice.Godwin Akaluka
was beheaded in Kano and his head put on a Spike and Islamists Youths
marched round the City of Kano in jubilation and this was happening
under the nose of NPF, SSS, Judiciary etc and nobody called for Justice
and nobody was charges for Murder and nobody was sentenced to death.For
the Office of Chief Justice of Nigeria to select Islamic Judges to hear a
high Profile Case involving a popular Christian Pastor lives much to be
desired as there can never be Justice.Tribal and Religious
bigotry is the order of the day in Nigeria and as such it is a
distasteful and shameful judgement that must be annulled by Supreme
Court.

De Viper

This is a case of Manslaughter and not murder…and if so, then he is not guity as charged.

“The unjustifiable, inexcusable, and intentional killing of a human being
without deliberation, premeditation, and malice. The unlawful killing of a human
being without any deliberation, which may be involuntary, in the commission of a
lawful act without due caution and circumspection.

Manslaughter is a distinct crime and is not considered a lesser degree of
murder. The essential distinction between the two offenses is that malice
aforethought must be present for murder, whereas it must be absent for
manslaughter. Manslaughter is not as serious a crime as murder. On the other
hand, it is not a justifiable or excusable killing for which little or no
punishment is imposed.

At Common Law, as well as under current statutes,
the offense can be either voluntary or Involuntary Manslaughter. The main
difference between the two is that voluntary manslaughter requires an intent to
kill or cause serious bodily harm while involuntary manslaughter does not.
Premeditation or deliberation, however, are elements of murder and not of
manslaughter. Some states have abandoned the use of adjectives to describe
different forms of the offense and, instead, simply divide the offense into
varying degrees”

Legend

So if I buy a Jerry can of petrol, deliberately pour it all over your body and then light you up with a match, you would consider that to be manslaughter? It’s true what they say, that some people have bird’s brain.

makanaki

Oga,
You sabi yan tory na em make you no go educate the judges.
You “client is going to die by hanging…..”

Legend

It doesn’t stop the fact that he is murderer and deserves what’s coming to him. We are all sick of people committing atrocities in God’s name. Is he afraid of heaven or hell? When fanatics are faced with death, they soon do every thing to save their sorry skins.

KELVIN TIKU

manslaughter can only succeed if you are able to prove insanity, intoxication, accident and provocation. and non will avail Rev. King. some talk of injustice for the prosecution had not proved intention to commit murder, if i may say, what would be the resultant effect if a man (1) carries gasoline (2) poured it on another man (3) strick’s matches on him/her, would the had thought that to be a body spray? or a effluvium? the answer is ‘no’. It is trite law that, any man who willfully takes the life of another man will be sentenced to death. section 33 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 AS amended 2011.

therefore, justice as there say is “A LIGAMENT BINDING CIVILIZE NATION AND CIVILIZE BEING TOGETHER” I therefor will in my own view affirm the said judgment and any further appeal be set aside

barry clinton

If Rev. King was an Imam in Kano or a Yoruba Pastor would he be arrested talk of being charges to Court?

http://www.facebook.com/tiku.kelvin1 Tiku Kelvin

this is not a matter of Law, were tribalism will be the issue of the
day, but this is a matter of fact. that a Nigerian had being inhumanly
murdered another man’s child, the integrity of the law of this great
Nation, the “HOUSE OF GOD” blaspheming his Holy name! only God himself
can judge

makanaki

Barry, why are you being insensitive. If it were to be your family that died, would you have sided King? Second, you’re only being a religious fanatics. Was “your own” christian not part of the judges in the high court. Let me educate you, in the present judiciary, the christians dominates the muslim. So why cant the christians save kings ass.

Wake up to the reality of the day and accept that the man in ustions who parades himself as a man of God is guilty. If i were you , i’d rather be praying for his forgiveness and response of his soul to heaven (if his wicked and delvish anticts allow him).

Don’t let me charge you as an accomplice.

Your man is going to die by hanging….

hahahahahaha……..i dey laugh o…….
One by one by God and is still counting……

Lambozer

You are as stupid as the rest of them! What utter nonsense!!

Princewill

The thing that pains me most is not the actions or deception of these fake men of God but their blind and fanatical followers. these people will fight if you dare say anything against their pastors. they defend these pastors blindly even when they are being exploited. there won’t be fake churches if there no fake Christians, and there won’t be fake men of God if there are no worshipers. It’s just too bad.

uche

Funsola Awlaniy,

I THINK IT IS HIGH TIME WE BEGAN TO DRAW THE RED LINE BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND RELIGION.SOMETIMES WE BECOME CYNICAL IN OUR OPINIONS EITHER AS A RESULT OF BEING BIAS OR THAT WE ARE MYOPIC TO ISSUES. THE MADE THAT THERE WAS A TIME WHEN JESUS PREACHED OVER FIVE THOUSAND MEN GATHERED TO HEAR HIM, AFTERWARD HE FED THEM, NOW ON ANOTHER DAY WHEN HE WAS TEACHING THEM THE WAY OF TRUTH (CHRISTIAN LIFE) AFTER HIS MINISTRATION THE TESTIMONY OF THE BIBLE WAS THAT THE PEOPLE DEPARTED SAYING THIS IS A HARD WORD TO HEAR, AND JESUS TURNED AROUND AND LOOKED AT PETER AND WILL YOU ALSO GO?. AND PETER ANSWERED ‘THOU ART THE LIFE AND IF WE GO TO WHOM SHALL WE GO TO.

PLEASE LET US DEFINE TRUE CHRISTIANITY AND CHRISTIANITY OF PROSPERITY AND MIRACLE HEALING FAITH TEACHINGS. THE BIBLE (GOD’S WORDS) IS MINDFUL OF THIS END TIME PREACHING HENCE TRUE BELIEVERS WERE WARNED TO BE CAREFUL BECAUSE WE SHALL DEFINITELY FIND OURSELVES IN SUCH A DECAYED WORLD AS WE ARE TODAY.WERE THERE MEN LIKE REV. KING AND CO. IN THE DAYS OF THE BIBLE? YES. DELMAS WAS A TYPICAL EXAMPLE, JUDAS ISCARIOT, THE SONS OF SCEEVERS AND OF COURSE SIMON THE SORCERER.

PLEASE WHENEVER WE ARE MAKING COMMENTS LET US LOOK AT ISSUES CRITICALLY AND MAKE OUR OPINION KNOWN. YOU DON’T JESUS AS THEIR JESUS.

The Jews like to exaggerate. It’s not possible to speak to 5000 people without micro phone. Even speaking to a few people in a room without microphone, would elicit a loud demand from the crowd to speak louder. Lunatics have taken over religion and whilst one might argue that just because one is a lunatic doesn’t mean the person can’t not express his religious views or believe.
The problem is that once you have a mad lunatic as head, then you would succumb to the madness of torture and murder in churches. This so called prophet is a scum bag and deserves to be executed, lest that be a warning to other nutters, so called pastors, over seers or what ever they call themselves….

Ignasyes

How about two fishes and five loaves that Jesus fed the multitude and two basketful remnants after they were filled? Do you consider that an exaggeration. Mind you multitude cannot be less than 12 if you want to assume that Jesus was only with His apostles and do not forget that a lad carried the five loaves of bread when your mind try to intellectualize it that it has to be some form of oversized-bread.
It goes back to the mystery of Christ birth; a virgin
delivered a baby boy. This is the core foundation of the Christian FAITH. A wonder that has become a stumbling stone to world and a capstone for those that believes. Let God be true and let all men be liars.

Ilaro

You people are sick.You and your so-called Prophet, Bishop, Apostle or
whatever you choose to call him will end up like Rev King and others
like him as shown in the scriptures below:

Acts 5:34 – 37
34But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a
teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered
the men to be put outside for a short time.
35Then he said to them, ‘Fellow-Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men.
36For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to
be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he
was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared.
37After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time
of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all
who followed him were scattered.

You would agree with me that these followers of Theudas and Judas the
Galilean were gaining something from following them otherwise they
wouldn’t have continued with them for that long. However, if they knew
from the begining that they would all perish, do you think they would
have followed them? No! Think. All that glitters is not gold. It’s all
photo trick, the more you look, the less you see.

It’s not all about miracles. Bible already warned that satan can also
perform miracles and as such it is our responsibility to ascertain the
power behind what we call miracles.

2 Cor.11:14-15 (English Standard version)
14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
15
So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as
servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

1 John 4:1
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the
spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have
gone out into the world.

Before anyone dials that number, try and conduct a background check
first. Don’t enter into what you will regret later. I strongly advise
that you don’t even attempt it. You may not live to regret it. Once you
are in, you may never be able to come out. The times are dangerous. We
are already in the perilious times.
Your life is too precious to God
than to be wasted.These are agents of satan on assignment to recruit
converts to be finally devoured. Be warned!! God bless you as you obey

Yerima ifeanyi tunde

This ibo manis a crook.

aremueze111

WHY ARE TRIBALISING THIS ISSUE. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TRIBE BUT THE SPIRIT BEHIND. ASK GOD TO FORGIVE YOU. I AM NOT AN IBO MAN BUT I HATE PERSONALIZING GENERAL ISSUE.

aremueze111

I MEAN WHY ARE YOU TRIBALISING ISSUES?

solly

The corrupt leaders are there still working around ,embezzling the tax payers money without any judge or justice condemning them to death or put them in life jail.Whereas these pples are killers/ Murders killing the poor masses.Somebody stole police pensions funds puttings the welfares of the Pensioners in a jeopardy or causing untimely death for some of them.The judge still passed a light sentence on him.So,who deserve to be condemned or die by hanging first btw. these pples. The political,economical instability and lack of security gave birth to all these fake Pastors and Alfas,not until everyone of us change our ways and attitude b4 Nigeria can see d light of d day including d judiciaries who are d voice of d voiceless.Nobody in Nig. of today deserves to condemn any one if we can not condemn d corrupt leaders or corruptions which is d genesis of all d Nigeria problems

sun ken fro UK

The fact is that king formed an intention which led him to unleash a violent,brutal and vicious attack on his ever gullible women followers,he more than deserve to die,when he gets to heaven he can then apologize to his hapless victim
If however he wants to waste his money and time he can appeal
This is a direct result of the substitution of our rich culture and religion with that of the Jews and Arabs
Apart from worshiping lesser gods and practicing human scarifies i do not see anything wrong with our own traditional religion
Before the advent of Europeans and Arabs who imported these foreign religions to us,our forefathers worshiped one God,the Yorubas referred to him as Olodumare while the Igbos called him Chukwu and our society at large was far better in terms of morals and other life virtues than what we have today
Even in the Bible Jesus condemned the Jewish elites for using religion as a means of ripping off their followers and the same is what we have today in most Pentecostal churches where many pastors instill spiritual fear on members to fleece then of their money
Many members even worship these almighty so call ”Men of God”, this is why this king of a person became so much consumed in his obsessional delusion to the extent of believing he can get away with anything,even murder
I just hope that my good people will take a lot of positives from this case

chidozie osisiogu

this man rev. king is not a pastor and not a man of GOD rather a cultist and ritualist. even his physical looks, tells what he is up to, deadly and devilish human being. there are many more like him, i pray that nemesis caught up with them all. he has to die for his evil acts, period,,,,,,

felix osagiede

Let the law have its way:

The Truth

This is a pure bait, pls do not fall into it no matter the pain u are
going through. live holy, pray in the name of Jesus and have faith dt ur
prayer will be answered. God bless U.

barry clinton

The judgement against Rev. King is tainted, the Islamic Appeal Judges cannot give a fair justice to a matter involving a Christian Pastor especially an Igbo Man.Todays Punch headlines reads : An Igbo bridegroom killed by some Police Officers on september 2012 five days after his wedding was visited to his Family by AIG ZONE 2 and the AIG visited to pay them condolence visit and not to inform them about the prosecution of five Police officers arrested over the Murder and he said they are still investigating.This shows you how Nigeria Judiciary and Police deal with justice when it affects an Igbo persons.The point am making is still that in the case of Rev. King the prosecution did not provide any proof of intent to Murder or conspiracy and the bereaved and Rev. King belonged to same christian family.And the death of the bereaved could have been caused by lack of adequate medical facilities in the hospital she was admitted since she died more than 11 days after admission and the Rev. King paid for the Medical bills.Therefore, that case should been manslaughter and a heavy compensation to the family of bereaved, this should been a better justice.Killing Rev. King would be a judicial murder resulting from miscarriage of justice.This judgement is based on tribal and religious sentiments of let wipe out the Igbos at any opportunity.

manoli enzo

fellow nigerians,can government xplain to us why they are still keeping this brutal rev king alive till date after his death sentence.

Chaber

Must Miracle be preached before one can identified someone as man of God, after all the Rev.in question on death roll also invited people to his congregation through this same methods preaching miracles through all available means. I think its right time for people to start having second thought about all the miracle peaching churches,after all our life,growth ,change process from baby to adult, planting and germinations are miracles that we can all attest to! I think we should be more concern about our communion with the lord than miracles that can never can never proof!

Columnists

"Mr Orubebe, you are former minister of the Federal Republic, you are a statesman in your own right and you must be careful about what you say and about the allegations or accusations that you make and certainly you must be careful about your public conducts."

INEC's Chairman, Attairu Jega cautioning Orubebe over his conduct during the release of the Presidential election results.